Improvement in fare-boxes



STATES PATEN OFFICE ,HENRY JOHNSON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRIG'l OFCOLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN FARE-BOXES S ecification forming part of Letters PatentNo. 1 73.960, dated February 22, 1876 application filed November 20,1875.

To'all whom'it may concern: l l p Be it known: that I,-HENRY JoHNsomofWashingtomin-the District of Oolumbi-a, have invented a new andvaluable- Improvement in- Finance-Desks; .andlIdo herebygleclare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion oftheconstruction andoperation of the same,ureference being had to theannexed drawings, making apart of this specification,

and to the lettersandfigures of reference markedthereon. l a

Figure l of the drawings is a representation a top-plan view of; myfinance-desk and Fig;

isa rear'view of thesame closed 5 and Fig.4

is' an under-plan view thereof.

Thisrinvention has relation to improvements in-fare-boxes, whetherstationary or portable,

for financial'andfother purposes. The object of theinvention istoprevent or detect frauds inareceiving-or disbursingmoneys, pertaining Vto each and almost" every kind ofibusixiess, occupatiomemployment, orpursuitq- .Lnthe illustration of: my invention I shalluseadesk,A,as:shown in thedrawings, but the same principleswandconstruction are equally applicableto anyotherobjec't,suclias'a trunk,

box, satchel, andthe-like; hencel'do'not wish to beunderstoodaslconfining' myself to the desk alone.

Desk Amay: be made either stationary or. portable, large or smallornamented or plainr Itlma'y be: made of any suitable material, and

ofany shape; and it may have as many de partmentsi as the necessitiesof" the business may-require; The bod'y of the desk is divided byvertical partitions into a ticket-receiver, a,

a departmentfb, from which tickets will be- Thispocket-book'opens freelyfrom below, but

its upper edges are held closely and snugly together by means 06 anelastic strap, f, secured to the back ofthe book, passing around thepockets of the same, and then attached to its front. By this means thecurrencydepos ited; therein will be prevented from blowing out, and onlya single pocket of-the book can The remainder of the be opened at atime. change-box not occupied by bookG will be utilized for holding.coppers, and its bottom .and side will be: made of metal, orwill -bemetallined, to prevent undue wear. In practice' the" bank-department(land the ticket-p receiving department will be locked, and the key willremain in possession of the proprietor or other responsibleoflicer, butto the remaining departments the person using the desk WlllghHNB freeaccess'for issuing tickets or. giving change. When the deskis portableitwill be provided with a strap, D,-to be buckled about the Waist',:f0rthe purpose of securing it toithe person, -andthe side next the, bodywill be provided with a pouch or pocket,=g,for the reception'ot'a'watch. This arrangement will be particularly necessary in rtransportation companies using time-schedules, the officersof whichare-by; regulation strictly forbidden to wear garments with pockets, as'is'nowbecoming the general practice.

Elrcpresents a recording bell-punch, which is arranged preferably at therear of the desk, with its operating lever hp'rojectingabove it, asshown; in Fig.3. This pupch has already i been, the subject of LettersPatent'grantedto me: a further description isithereforedeemedunnecessary. p a

.Punch is secured to the rear. side of the desk, and the said side beinghinged at its lower edge thereto, it is capable of 'being thrown outwardintotheposition shown in Fig. 2,. for the purpose of giving acces'stothe. interior of ticket-receiver a, and reading off the register of thepunch. The bell, also, by means of which the alarm is sounded, is alsosecured to the hinged side F of the desk, but

upon the outside thereof. It iswvellkuowu' to those skilled in the arthow exceedingly difficult it is to construct a large numberof bellshaving exactly the same vsoundor note when struck, and yet this resultmust beob tained, else the detection of dishonestofficials in dailyrequisition. filed away in properlyendorsed envelopes,

will be rendered impossible, since any description of beater might beused, whatever be the sound produced. In order to do away with thenecessity of tuning the-bells, I produce an alarm of a very peculiarsound, which is changeable at pleasure, and is utterly incapableof beingimitated, in the following manner, to wit: A tunable .gut orwire-string, G, sounded by the bell-hammer is arranged on the inner sideof the back of the desk in a deep grove cut therein". This string isrigidly secured at one end of the groove to the deskback, and at theother to a tensionscrew, 1', arranged in suitable bearings at the'otherend thereof; consequently, by turning the said screw, the sound of thestring may be varied at pleasure. When the lever h is actuated,

- the bell-hammer will strike the bell and the string simultaneously,producing, along with the sound of the bell, a peculiar twanging musicalnote, which, combining with the note of the bell, will produce a unionof sounds of 'such a nature as to be incapable of imitation,

except by the means above stated, and this string being tunable, and itsnote variable at pleasure, the fraudulent practice called 4. beat-- ing?is effectually prevented; first, because of the impossibility ofcarrying, on any part of the person, a string of sufiicient length toproduce a sound sufficiently distinct; and, secondly, because thecontact of the clothing and string would stop the vibrations of thelatter and prevent any sound whatever. The back ,of the desk is securedinto position so as to close the ticket-receiver a by means of alocking-rod, H, passing through a lug, l, on one end of the desk, thenthrough a metallic tube,

K, on the hinged back into and through a lug, l, on the other end of thesaid desk. This rod will be secured against withdrawal by-unau- Ithorized persons by means of a commutationlock, 1, the key to which willbe in the hands of the proper settlin gofficer. Upon the under side ofthe desk, when portable, an ordinary canceling-punch, L, will bearranged in a holder :formed by two angular pieces of wood, m, (shown indotted lines, Fig. 4,) and a preferably metallic plate connecting thesame.

To insert the unch, compress the handles, and insert its utting endbetween angular blocks m. The punch having been inserted, thereaction ofspring a will open the cuttingjaws and secureit in position. I also makea receptacle, J, on the under side of the said desk,

and at'its other end, for such accounts as are These accounts will be'daily, monthly,' or yearly, as I may elect. The practical operation ofmy improved financedesk-in relation to the sale of merchandise is asfollows: A clerk having sold a bill of-v goods to the amount of $96.28,takes a properly-prepared blank from the ticket-issue department, writesdown the amount, and signs his name upon a duplicate of the said blank,whichhe hands to the buyer. The

blankis deliyered to the cashier, who fills up cashier and salesman.

theticket proper, receives the money, and, having receipted the ticketproper, returns it to the purchaser. The duplicate he first cancels,thus recording the transaction, and then deposits it in theticket-receiving department, the cash being droppedinto the bank 0. Thedays business being. transacted, the proprietor,or his authorized agent,examines the register, and notes down the number of purchases; he thencounts the number of cash-tickets in the ticket-receivingdepartpartment. If the number'of purchases made, as recorded in theregister of the punch, and the, number of tickets, agree or correspond,he then adds together the amounts entered on the said ticket. The totalof these amounts must correspond with the total of the cashi'n thecashier has committed an error in count ing, for which he is of courseresponsible. If there should be a discrepancy in the register that is,between the number of transactions recorded by theregister and thenumber of cash-tickets. in the receiver a-it would be primafacz'eevidence of error on the part of the cashier, either voluntary orinvoluntary, which would be detected by reference to memorandumsalesbooks kept by the salesmen,

In order to perpetrate a fraud it wouldibe requisite to have collusionbetween a casual unknown purchaser, the salesman, and the cashier. Thetwo latter, not being acquainted with the former, would not dare,however much they might be inclined to do so, to propose a fraud to theformer, nor would the purchaserto propose such a transaction to the Thevariety of transactions to which my invention is applicable is sonumerous as to render any further exemplifications thereof futile. Ishall therefore confine myself to the one above stated.

In case the desk is portable, I shall place a socket, 1), upon the rearof the desk for the reception of a lead-pencil, q, so that in theabs'ence of pockets a suitable receptacle for a medium of writing may beprovided.

., It will be understood that all transactions of whatever nature willbe recorded. For instance, if a buyer pays on hisbill of $96.28

the sumof fifty dollars only, the duplicate will be punched as before,thus recording the transaction, and the money be deposited in cash- .box0. Thedu'plica-te will, however, not be deposited in the ticket-receiverdepartment a, but will be put on file until the balance, $46.28, ispaid, when it will be canceled with the 'punch L, and then be put in thesaid receiver.

In the case last stated, the number of transactions recorded inthe'recording-punch will not agree with the number of blanks in receivera, nor will the total of the sums on the blanks with the cash in thebank; but this discrepancy will be readilyaccounted for by reference tothe file, where it will be discovered that a blank, which would havebeen deposited in the receiver, had the transaction memo p 3 beencomplete, has been placed. The clipping taken out of this blank, when itis deposited in the receiver after the payment of the balance due, willbe of difl'crent form from that cut out by the recording-punch E, andwill indicate a completed transaction. On examination of the recorder,and of the blanks in the receiver a after the payment of this balance,it will be found that the number of blanks will exceed the number oftransactions by one; but the amounts on the blanks added up will agreewith the cash in bank.

The envelope-receptacle on the under side of the desk will also containan account-book, wherein such memoranda as may occur during the day willbe entered. v

What I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

2. In an apparatus forpreventlng or detecting fraud, the combination ofa desk or receptacle having compartments, a recording alarm-punch, astriker, and a'tunable string, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my namein the presence of two witnesses.

HENRY Jonnson.

Witnesses:

WALTER G. MASI, BRYAN H. Monsn.

